New Mature Runners Thread

1127128130132133254

Comments

  • Hello everyone. We are currently in our caravan just for the day and David is having a nap so I thought I would pop in and say hi. It's lovely here, overlooking the sea.  The east coast is one of the best kept secrets I  think.  Apart from its  beauty  this area is a magnet for fossil hunters. A complete mammoth was uncovered here!  There was to have been a marathon run here for the first time back in May and it was called the Mammoth  Marathon. Oh well!

    HS - Are you looking forward to Monday?  I bet you could probably achieve that sub 2 hour time given that you seem to be speedier than ever.  Especially given that you are familiar with the route.  It's kind of you to be prepared to forgo the challenge to run alongside the others. 

    Hey, do any of you  have strange rituals that you do  before  an event?  Since starting from home I  have become a Plumper  of Cushions. I  never plump usually, because there are far more important  things I  could be occupied with, but as the time approached for the start of Sunday's  Half I was going round the house plumping for England! Can you think of sportsmen who have displayed idiosyncratic behaviour before stressful situations ( serving or taking a penalty or attempting  a  conversion for example)?

    Aquarius  - You  struggle  a bit with how life has changed?  Me too. I  have 12 grandchildren  who live very close, and our home was always full of children. We see them at a distance, but I  find it difficult  that they no longer ask for a cuddle or ask to  come to Nanny House. David has many health issues  and we are both 73, so we are very very careful. Luckier  than most though, living in  a beautiful  part of the  country and having  family close although  socially distant. Running helps!

    Grandchild number 11 turned 5 at the weekend and we presented him with a formicarium.  Great fun, and we are constantly having updates about ant activities. There is one ant who is a real explorer so he has been named Mr Intrepid. The colony seems to have settled with no casualties. All present and correct!

    Ran 4 miles yesterday, a circular route crossing some fields. Daughter no 2 ran too, leaving me behind but running back to me occasionally. It was a lovely day, with just a slight breeze. I ran faster than usual, 11 mm. That long run on Sunday  must have done me good!

    David just waking so time for a cup of tea!


  • HS, I think there’ll be many who would benefit from your sage advice. I could well be one of them!

    Matsmum, I hope you are enjoying the East coast. At least it’s generally flat? I don’t really know much of that area but I did once have a holiday in Cromer and it was lovely. I also spent 2 years in Colchester and a year in Clacton and it would be a stretch to describe either of them as lovely! Really good run from you.

    As for me, I clocked up a PB for 5k on the rower and am now down to 22.04. Not sure if this is any good but at least I’m going in the right direction. Not that you can go in any direction on a static rowing machine!
  • JB, Not a bad time at all for 5K rowing. I actually swapped my Concept 2 rower for a good treadmill, 6 months ago. I have to say that I was a much better rower than a runner with PBs of 3:23, 19:50, 41:20 and 3:13:25 for 1K, 5K, 10K and marathon distances respectively.
    I use the treadmill for incline 5K and 10K runs of 5% and 10%. It has helped to improve my road running times a little. I now alternate between running and calisthenic exercises (three days of each with a rest day on Saturday). Before I retired I went to the gym at least 3 days a week for around twenty years, with little to show for it. Six months of body weight exercises and using resistance bands has had far more effect than all those gym sessions (and a heck of a lot cheaper).
    I've now committed to the Tatton Park 10K, so long as it goes ahead. Currently trying to tempt my daughter to join me. We have some great competition, being of a very similar standard, although she, as a late comer to running is beginning to leave me behind in the longer runs.
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    Matsmum, sounds like you were having a lovely day yesterday, on the East Coast. The only time I have visited the East Coast was many years ago, when I was a teenager, and a friend and I spent a week at Skegness.  I tell a lie, when I was 21, four of us hired two boats on the Norfolk Broads in May, and "drove" to Southend on Sea, where we enjoyed the amusement park with fairground rides. 

    Yes, I am looking forward to Monday's virtual half marathon. I have received my race number, but will treat the run as a social. There is no date limit for running until December, so I could do it again if I wanted to set a serious time. The way it works is to record the run on Strava or Garmin Connect, and copy and paste to the submission form which they have emailed. I will let you know what time we ran, plus a race report.

    Regarding strange rituals, Dame Kelly Holmes would only use the same portaloo before racing on the track. On one occasion, that loo was locked, so she asked one of the shot putters to force it open for her. He wasn't very impressed. My only ritual, which I no longer do, was to always untie and tie up again my trainers, just before the start of every race.

    Your 4 mile run sounded good, especially running with one of your daughters. It's surprising how long runs/races improve ones fitness and speed.

    JB, I'm always happy to share my knowledge of running, training and recovery.

    Well done for your 5k pb on the rower. That sounds quite hard core to me, rowing for over 22 minutes. I used to have a go on one after my spinning sessions, but it was only for about 10 minutes.

    Redmist, I have never "got on" with treadmills. I hope your Tatton Park 10k does go ahead, and that your daughter does enter it with you. Some of the runners I run with are younger than my daughter, which makes me feel really old.

    Today was another rest day from running, but I did my twice weekly walk back from the supermarket, carrying 4 very heavy bags of shopping. I try to think of "The Worlds Strongest Man" competition, where they attempt to run with a very heavy weight in each hand. I do think that it is making me stronger, as I can walk all the way now, without stopping and putting them down. When I got home I did the front plank and press ups.
  • Afternoon all,

    A quick Garmin update (I know how thrilling you must all be finding this) - 

    After my 6 mile run on Wednesday (which I’ve now re-estimated as actually being 5.5) I was so annoyed that I hadn’t been able to lock on to GPS that as soon as I got back home I asked Steve to put his Garmin on and walk around the estate with me to see if his Garmin could find the satellites, which it did, although mine still didn’t until I was about to re-enter our house.
    So yesterday, when we were at the coast for my Chiropractor session, I tried it out again. Steve went for a run/walk (he started Couch to 5k again yesterday) and had no problem locating the satellites as he ran along the promenade. I however walked from the Chiropractor’s to the prom, a little over a mile, without finding any satellites. On the way I walked through an open park, then along the sea front, so I was sure there couldn’t be any blocking of the signal from tall buildings. Also the weather conditions were quite different from Wednesday, being sunny instead of overcast and drizzly. (I know the weather probably has no effect on the GPS system but I thought it was just possible it might have made a difference, I was grasping at straws by this stage).
    Then we drove a few miles up the coast and walked for 2 miles through sand dunes - still no satellites for me, but Steve got them straight away. By now I’d decided to return the watch but decided to try once more, so this morning I went to my local park for my hill repeats session, I did eventually get satelitte reception but only after I’d run a mile to the park and done two hill repeats.
    So on return I contacted Amazon and they are sending a replacement watch to me which will arrive tomorrow, the defective one will be picked up by Hermes free of charge on Monday. 

  • HS -  our posts crossed (again :) ). It would appear that your shopping days are doing double duty as strength training days! It’s good that you can now get all the way home without having to stop and rest, it just shows that you are getting stronger all the time. Good luck with Monday’s HM, it's nice to know that you can run it as often as you want between now and December if you want to try to improve on your time. All races should be like that - it would certainly take the pressure off. Looking forward as ever to your race report.

    Matsmum - Do you often get to spend time at your caravan? It sounds like a nice relaxing way to have a short break, doing what you want when you want, with no worries about social distancing. Well done for your run yesterday across fields, that was a good time. How nice to be able to run with your daughter, my eldest son (who is currently living with us) is a runner too, but much faster than me obviously. We don’t train together, but do enter some races together, but he always draws the short straw by having to wait for ages at the finish line until I totter over. It’s not too bad in the summer, but some winter races have left him shivering and blue. Steve used to run with me but he’s not done any running for almost three years now due to his heart problems. We are keeping fingers crossed that he will get sorted out one day and get back to running. The hospital has encouraged him to start exercising again so they can judge if his op in December was successful - hence his Couch to 5k run yesterday. 
    Twelve grandchildren, my word they must have kept you busy before Covid struck. We only have two grandchildren, a granddaughter who lives with us for part of the week (and is at her mother’s the rest of the time - forming our “social bubble” or whatever they call them) and a grandson who just lives down the road from us but, due to the new restrictions for the North East, we cannot see him and his family even though they live so close, as we already have a bubble thing with our granddaughter’s family. Strange times.

    JB - Well done for your rowing PB. Do you listen to music or watch television or do something similar to pass the time while on the rower? I think I would get bored quite quickly without a constant change of scenery or some other distraction. 

    Redmist - I see you were also no slouch where rowing was concerned, great times and for such a variety of distances too. What made you give up?
    Like you we also went to the gym three times a week for years, and really didn’t feel like we were getting any fitter as a result. That’s when we ditched the gym and built up our running outdoors. Lately I’ve introduced yoga, Pilates and various strength exercises into my weekly routine and I'm definitely feeling the benefit, I wish I’d done it years ago. I might have been a better runner now. 

    WtnMel - I’m in need of some IT advice please. I deleted a load of emails a few days ago, and since then I’ve been getting a message from Microsoft every couple of hours telling me that I have a folder that has a name conflict with a system folder. I know which one it is, some years ago an extra Junk mail box appeared in my list of folders. (The system folder is just called “Junk” but the extra one has called itself “Junk email”). The same thing happened to Steve’s Hotmail account at around the same time. We were a little surprised at the time, but as it didn’t seem to be causing any problems we didn’t do anything about it. The strange thing is that this "Junk email” folder only appears in the list of folders in my Hotmail account on my iPhone, it isn’t present in Hotmail on my Mac laptop. I’ve tried deleting the unwanted “Junk email” folder, and even tried renaming it (as advised by Microsoft) but it won’t let me do either of these things. Have you come across this before?
  • Hey Guys sorry I have just been lurking recently with no input.
    I was 46 the other day but I see we have a guy from wigan which is near me.
  • RM, I can only dream of matching your times on the rower. But it’s not for the want of trying. It is a very boring form of exercise. I listen to the radio but TBH I have to concentrate on technique.

    Talking of cross training.RM. I also vary my training. I tend to do sets of pull ups, press ups and a bit of kettlebell stuff. Forgive me if I’ve bored you with this before but last year I tried a cross fit routine called The Murph, named after a US war hero. This consists of 

    1 mile run
    300 squats 
    200 press ups
    100 pull ups
    1 mile run

    i managed this in 43 minutes. The pros do this with a 10kg weighted vest! And in about 30 minutes.

    It was quite tough.

    Back to running. 23.12 today in blustery conditions for 5k.

  • Afternoon everyone - catching up after a couple of days away from the thread.

    JB - well done re your SB time for the 10K. My partner Margaret and I were so fed up staying local during the lockdown, we've been making a point of getting out to NT gardens since the rules were relaxed a bit. Incidentally, I used to live in Cirencester which also has a polo club (in the park which is owned by Earl Bathurst - he lets the plebs walk in the park or ride their horses but no cycling is allowed though!). Re your later post, I'm sure the numbers of opponents thin out but no sign of me getting any closer to the front of my age group. I'm 68 now - perhaps I'll have more luck after I turn 70? :) I usually speed up over the last mile of my run as I know I'm nearing the finish and can put more effort in knowing it will soon finish.

    HS - yes, on Strava I can see comments on your running and who has given you kudos, even though I don't follow any of those people. Well done re your 1ml session - but boo to having Garmin problems. You mentioned white cows with horns - I think I read in the paper they have recently let loose pigs in the New Forest that eat the acorns? Re Matt Hancock's tie - before my company went 'smart casual' I made my own quiet protest by wearing the same tie every single day for a number of years, before finally discarding it one hot summer and it never got worn again as the company dress code changed. Well done for continuing with the weight-training and not lapsing into using the car for shopping.

    Aquarius - umm yes, no mention of Mon's golf as it was so dire .. see below for an update. As mentioned above, we've been making a point of getting out while we can and one advantage of the NT places being less busy than usual is it's easier to get photos without hordes of people in them and I've been posting the results on FB. Well done for keeping up with the pilates, yoga and circuit training. Sorry to hear about your returning problem with your Garmin not finding the satellite signals. Good to hear Steve has been fitted with the 7-day HRM - hope the results of the gentle cycling and jogging prove useful. I'd have also been tempted to throw something at Matt Hancock (not just him - would gladly throw things at any of the current cabinet). Reading your later post - it does sound like there is a problem with the new Garmin if you were unable to get any signal when Steve could easily. Reading the post after that - I've never come across the Hotmail problem you described with the name conflict. I did a quick check and found someone describing the same problem re name conflicts with 'Junk'. The answer seemed to be to log in to Hotmail in a web browser and drag the folder named Junk to the 'Junk e-mail' folder (or vice-versa). Let me know if (a) that makes sense (b) whether it helps!

    Matsmum - it's been a while since I've been to the east coast. Don't know where you are exactly but I had some enjoyable holidays in Norfolk and Suffolk and keep promising myself I'll go back there some day (especially enjoyed the coast near Holkham and the area around Woodbridge and Aldeburgh). Nope - no strange rituals performed here before a run/race apart from the obvious one of making sure my laces are tied tightly. I don't have any grandchildren of my own but I'm a sort-of Grandad to my partner Margaret's two granddaughters (I'm Grandad Mel to differentiate me from the other two Grandads). Well done re your 4ml run - the group I used to run with on Thu's had faster runners but they used to loop back regularly (well, most of the time anyway, but that's a different story!).

    Redmist - since I've been running outside I've not got round to fixing my treadmill which broke a few months ago. The running belt started breaking apart but I have the details of the part number to replace it and the name/number of a local firm who can probably fit the new belt. I'm thinking as Autumn is approaching I should get it fixed so I can use it when the weather gets bad. I've not been to a gym for a long time - but although I have resistance bands and weights, none of them get much use :( 

    Wore myself out again on Thu as I was working in the garden again with my son and swinging a pickaxe to remove some tree stumps - felt very 'creaky' later that evening but no after-effects like sore muscles.

    On Mon I played Alan at golf and it was dire. We played a new, trickier course and I went into ditches five 5 times, hedges & trees 3 times but thankfully, only 1 bunker. To try and rectify things, I've been to the driving range twice this week (Wed & Fri) and was hitting the ball much better as I seem to have sussed out what I was doing wrong. Fingers crossed I have a better round on Mon when I'm playing Alan again. I did try to book another lesson but must have picked the wrong times as there was no-one available to take my booking when I popped into the pro-shop.

    I ran 4mls this morning - it was definitely cooler so for the first time I wore an extra layer under my running t-shirt.

    Lunch soon then Margaret and I are off to get our flu jab this afternoon.
  • DN, Oh to be 46 again (and know what I know now). What part of the North West do you hail from. Hopefully not one in semi-lockdown.

    JB, Wow, that Murph routine and your time is pretty amazing. Unfortunately, one aspect is my Achilles heel.....pull-ups, and this plus my 9 minute miles would see me well north of your impressive time. Don't know why I can't do pull-ups; I've been trying for 40 years to master the skill. Think it's something in my make-up (no, not the wrong lipstick). Also, if my better half ever spots a pull-up bar attached to a door frame, I may suffer permanent damage to my hearing.

    Aquarius, I gave up rowing as I did not have room in my garage/man cave for both a rower and a treadmill. Also, as JB states, rowing is pretty boring.
  • Redmist, I would thought with your excellent times on the rower that you would have pretty strong lats? We are all configured differently. Despite years of weight training I still consider myself to be a bit of weakling. The only 3 things I’m any good at are running, pull ups and press ups. It helps being 142lbs that I’ve not got a lot to pull or push up!

    Mel, if your fingers are crossed while you are playing, this might be leading to a grip problem that’s holding your golf game back? I love it when folk take their sport seriously as you clearly do and look forward to hearing of your improvements.

    DN, wasn’t there some research published last week that showed people are at their most miserable at 48? In my case that was probably pretty spot on, but I hope you avoid it somehow. Running helps!

  • Good afternoon everyone,

    Aquarius, sorry to hear that your new Garmin has been playing up, but it's good that Amazon are replacing it. Has it arrived today, as promised?

    I'm sure that walking twice a week with heavy shopping is making me stronger. 

    Thanks, I'm looking forward to Monday's virtual NF Half Marathon, but don't expect a quick time. We haven't run this route since before the pandemic, so will be good to run it again.

    Hi Damien, belated happy birthday for your 46th recently, it seems that you are the youngster on here😁.

    JB, that CrossFit session is unbelievable. I couldn't do 200 press ups, let alone the mile runs, pull ups etc. Well done for todays 23.12 5k!

    WtnMel, thanks for your comments on the recent mile. It was very frustrating when the Garmin "played up." A similar thing happened during this mornings 5k, it flashed up "+8" with text below which I couldn't read without glasses. I ignored it, and it hadn't affected anything. Mike said that he thought the numbers referred to laps, and if we could confirm that, he could probably prevent it from happening. Sarah H and I had to run past the white cows with horns during Wednesdays mile. They always appear to be aggressive. Yes the pigs have been let loose in the forest again to eat the acorns. They were doing the annual round up of the ponies on Sunday, which is always scary, as they instinctively gallop away to try and escape.

    Interesting to note that you also adopted a one tie approach whilst you were at work. I wonder what Matt's reason is. Perhaps he can't afford another tie on the below the breadline salary that he is on!

    Hope you have better luck on Monday when you have another golf match with Alan. Good that you and Margaret will be having your flu jabs this afternoon. I've manged to book one for next Saturday at 9.30am. I was very lucky because it was a cancellation and they still haven't  set up another programme of tests yet. 

    This mornings forest 5k with Sarah F and Mike went well. We didn't put as much effort in as usual because of Mondays Half Marathon, but 27.38 was quite acceptable.
  • Redmist - my partner's son has a rowing machine. His dad came back from the USA and as he was WFH at the time, he didn't want to take any chances and stayed with us until his dad flew back to the states. He brought the rowing machine with him for his daily exercise fix and as there is already an exercise bike in the conservatory, it got a bit cramped in there as he also had his desk and office chair in there too.

    JB - touché. More accurately, I have my fingers interlocked when I play golf ;) I have taken golf more seriously since retiring. Time was I was happy to 'hack' my way round the course when I played occasionally for fun. Now I'm a more regular golfer (and have bought new clubs) I've had lessons to make it more enjoyable to play. I still sometimes find myself hacking my way along the fairways but although I'm still a bit rubbish, I'm far better than I used to be. And I have my seemingly unending quest to get good enough to beat my golfing partner Alan on a regular basis.

    Had the flu jab earlier - arm beginning to ache a bit now (as expected).
  • Mel, we had our flu jabs too yesterday. And yes the arm is a bit tender. On the golf performance, it’s still just great to be getting at something sporty at our age.
    Well done on your improvement. And good to have a defined objective as per beating your pal.

    HS, yes the cross fit thing sounded impossible to me too. It was mentioned in Runners World mag. The trick is to do the exercises in sets of 20 ie 15 squats, 10 press ups and 5 pull ups x 20. 

    21.44 km in 2 hours flat today. A sub 2 hour marathon at 5.36 per km. Now v. tired!
  • JB, respect yet again. I did my usual 9.1 miles this morning in 1:28 precisely. It was a bit more breezy than I had anticipated and quite warm but I can't say that the conditions greatly affected my time. This was my second run in some new Mizuno shoes and I'm quite pleased with them, given that I didn't pay the crazy prices that abound these days for so called elite runners shoes. In actual fact, I've just sold some Asics Gel Kayano shoes which I bought in the hope that my times would massively improve, having read the reviews about them. What happened was quite the opposite as I was minutes slower than in my battered Hokas. I told myself that, to get the best out of the Asics one must be a better runner than I am.
    Following your comment on rowing and lat development, I did a bit of You Tube research and found some cracking resistance band exercises for general back muscle development and specific lat workouts. Here's hoping I can finally achieve a respectable pull-up after a few weeks of those.
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    WtnMel, I remember my arm aching after last years flu jab. Seems like mine will have the same effect on Saturday. Hope it wears off for the Monday, as that is when we are doing the Hardley-a-round again.

    JB, that cross fit session doesn't sound as bad, broken down. I was assuming 200 successive press ups! I can manage 20, but have never tried repeats.

    Well done for your world record marathon, sub 2 hours! I presume that was a deliberate mistake, to see if anyone spotted it🤣 2 hours flat for the half is excellent at your age, and 5.36 per k is amazing.  I have difficulty getting below that pace in my 5k's! I've been looking back at my records and my half marathon pb is 1.20.58 set back in 1993 when I was 47. It was the Portsmouth Half. I can only dream about those days now.

    Redmist, well done for your 9.1 miles in 1.28.

    This morning was an easy 5k jog to loosen up my legs, for tomorrows virtual New Forest Half Marathon. I'm only expecting to run about 2hours 30 minutes, as I will be running with 4 others, so it will be more of a social.
  • Best of luck tomorrow, HS. Take it easy and enjoy the company.  
  • john bateman 6john bateman 6 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2020
    HS, ha, ha! Well spotted! My Garmin only flags an HM distance late, as it were. And I get so tired that I can never remember the HM distance in Kms. So I actually ran 21.44km in the 2 hours. I remember your point about a fast finish and I managed 5.20 for the last Km. Your PB at HM outclasses my 1.31 so that puts things into perspective. Best of luck for your virtual one.

    RM, I think I must be a trainer manufacturers nightmare as I only ever have one pair of trainers, don’t change them until they fall apart and then don’t go much above £35! Funny you should mention resistance bands as I asked my son to order some for me through Amazon Prime and went to pick them up on Saturday. After about an hour of searching his house he realised he’d put the box out for the bin-men, with the product still in it! I disinherited him on the spot!

    The 10k I’ve been training for has been postponed.
  • Afternoon all,

    WtnMel - sorry to hear your golf game was a bit of a disappointment, but there’s always next time (today I believe?). At least you appear to have sussed out what you are doing wrong, so you know how to improve (although always easier to say than do). I believe Gibside was featured last night on that television programme about NT properties, that’s where I do my parkruns, so I’ll have to try to watch it on catch-up. I don’t suppose they’ll spend much time on the part of the estate that forms our course (and also the Great Run weekly 5k course) as it is mainly hills, nothing particularly picturesque. Thanks for the advice regarding that extra junk mailbox. The problem though is that this rogue mailbox doesn’t show up anywhere except in Hotmail on my iPhone, and it’s not possible to drag it to the system junk mailbox on my phone as trying to do that just moves the whole screen, not the mailbox. Like HS we have also our flu jabs appointments this coming Saturday, no doubt we’ll be joining the sore arm club afterwards. 

    HS - strange to say, I hadn’t noticed Matt’s addiction to pink ties before you mentioned it (I’m generously assuming he has a whole collection of them, rather than just the one, because if it was his one and only tie, he surely he wouldn’t take the chance of appearing on television with a gravy stain on it?). My new Garmin (still a 45s) has arrived and I used it yesterday for a 6 mile run and I’m pleased to say it performed perfectly. Let’s hope it stays that way. I hope the issues you’ve been experiencing with your new watch are nothing serious, just lap data related. 

    JB - I think you’re being very modest about the Murph routine you used to do, it sounds like torture to me, but no doubt it had a positive impact on your running ability. A fair return for the effort you put in. (However, maybe not enough to achieve a sub 2 hour “marathon”? ;) ) Haha I hope the bin men liked your “gift”, they might even take advantage of it. Gone are the days when bin men used to heave the old metal bins up across their shoulders to empty into the bin lorry, nowadays they just wheel them over to the lorry and let the machinery do the heavy lifting. No doubt a few resistance band sessions would do them good. Sorry to see your 10k has been cancelled, but not really surprised.

    Redmist - Isn’t it odd how some shoes are perfect for one runner, but no good for another? I used to run in Asics Gel Nimbus and loved them, until one year they made the toe box much narrower which resulted in my toes becoming numb on long runs, so after a few runs I gave them away to a club member, who in turn gave them to her daughter, who loved them and found them early comfortable. I now stick to Brooks, and although tempted to try a different brand, I’ve never actually done so. I think shoes are so expensive I’m safer just staying with a brand I know I have no problems with. Good luck with your resistance band exercises - let us know how you get on with them.

    Damien - belated birthday wishes.

    As mentioned above I did a 6 mile run yesterday, broken down into a 5k for my not-a-parkrun time, then a recovery run back home. Tomorrow is Zoom Pilates, but before that we are going on a walk to see if there are any late blackberries left in the hedges. :)


  • Good evening everyone,

    Matsmum, thanks, the run went well, details below.

    JB, oh dear, your son putting your box of resistance bands out for the binmen. Lucky it wasn't a box containing new trainers!

    Sorry to hear that your 10k has been postponed.

    Aquarius, you may be right that Matt has more than  one pink tie, but why pink ones. Presume he thinks that they are trendy, sad really!

    Glad to hear that your replacement Garmin 45 connected to the satellites without any problems. No problems with my Garmin during todays virtual half marathon.

    I remember the days when the bin men used to carry the bins on their shoulders and empty them into the lorries. 

    Well done for yesterdays 6 miles. Enjoy tomorrows walk and the zoom session.

    This mornings virtual NF Half Marathon with the two Sarah's and Jane went really well. We ran it on the club's Solent Half Marathon route, which is quite hilly. My time was 2.13.48, so I was quite pleased with that.


  • Well done HS, a very good time for a hilly route.  :)
  • Morning everyone,

    JB - my friend Alan who I play golf with always claims he isn't competitive. But on the odd occasions when I'm winning, he gets a bit 'twitchy' and I can see he's trying harder. I live in hope I can make him 'twitchy' on a more regular basis. I'm someone else who only has one pair of trainers on the go at a time - but I do pay the going rate. Sometimes I can get the last year's model cheaper but it all depends on what stock is left when I look around.

    Redmist - glad to hear your new shoes are working out okay.

    HS - glad to say the aching in the arm from the flu jab went away after a day or two. Well done re your virtual NF HM with the two Sarah's and Jane .. 2h 13m is a great time.

    Aquarius - I managed to play better at golf yesterday (see below). We record the George Clarke programme and I saw from the info about the latest one that Gibside is featured. Most of the programmes have had him looking inside where the general public haven't been allowed lately, but he does spend some time in the grounds too. Re the junk mailbox problem only affecting your iPhone .. my IT training leads me to suggest you should probably delete the app and re-install it on the phone and see if that helps (aka. switch it off and on) :) Great to hear your new Garmin 45s performed better than the old one - let's hope it continues to work properly. I see you stick to Brooks these days - I've only been using Saucony Guide for a number of years now. I have some self-seeded brambles at the end of the garden that I 'cultivate' each year and tie up to the fence - they had gone over a few weeks ago so I cut them down to the ground assuming they'll spring back next year (will be amazed if they don't!)

    Golf yesterday went well so the practising at the driving range in the week was worth it. I didn't win, but it was neck and neck until the 16th hole (nor more than one shot in it) and it was only due to me fluffing my putts on the 16th and then a wayward drive on the 17th that meant Alan won by 3 shots. But I was happy as my overall score was lower than it has been lately.

    I don't know why, but have my hunches, why my left foot feels a bit bruised today. I noticed it was a bit sore after golf yesterday. It may have been the gardening a few days ago. It may have been that when I ran on Sat I felt I was 'favouring' my right foot and mentally tried to land more on my left. It may be the running shoes need replacing. Anyway, when I woke up my left foot was tender so I canned the idea of an early run. I did order some new running shoes yesterday evening which should arrive on Thu (same make/model as current ones). And in future, I think I'll wear my old walking boots rather than my old running shoes when working in the garden.

    Margaret's birthday tomorrow so I'll be cooking our evening meal and I'm off to the shops in a bit to get something. Tomorrow morning we're off to another NT house/garden - this time we're going to Upton House which is near Banbury. And as treat for Margaret's birthday, next week we're going to look round the gardens at Highgrove where Prince Charles lives (well, some of the time anyway).

    I finished pruning the last of the four fruit at the weekend. But viewing it from the upstairs over the last couple of days, I've decided it could do with a bit more of a 'haircut'. So I'm going to go out later and give it a bit more of a prune and take another 1-2 foot of growth off.
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    Aquarius, thanks, we enjoyed the run and were pleased with the results.

    WtnMel, glad to hear that the ache in your arm only lasted a day or two. I'm hoping mine will be ok for Monday's Hardley-a-Round.

    Thanks, we all enjoyed the run and weren't really racing it. 

    On the subject of trainers, I've worn Asics 1000's for many years now. I always used to change them every 500 miles, but I'm still wearing two pairs that have done over 700 miles. I wore my third pair yesterday for  the half marathon, which have done just over a 100 miles.

    Good to hear that your golf is still improving, and that your practicing is paying off. I'm sure that it won't be long before you beat Alan, and that once you have, you will probably have the upper hand for future matches.

    Is it the top of your left foot that aches? I get that at times, it's possible that I land more heavily on that foot.

    Happy birthday to Margaret, will you be having champagne with the evening meal?🍾 Hope you enjoy tomorrow's walk round Upton House, and Highgrove next week.

    It's forecast rain tomorrow, so just as well you are doing the pruning this afternoon.

    I've been trying to copy my virtual half marathon from strava onto the link in the email they sent for that purpose. I've tried clicking the triangle on its side in the top right hand corner to share, and then attempted to copy and paste. It doesn't work so I've sent an email to the organisers asking for advice. It's very frustrating.
  • Evening all,

    HS - is it the 'gpx' file you need to send the virtual NF organisers? Or the 'fit' file? I can see a way of downloading the gpx file from Strava by clicking on the three dots you see when you view your run which brings up a pop-up menu of options including 'Export GPX' . If it's a 'fit' file, you choose 'Export original' instead. I'll attach a photo with it circled. I normally use my trainers for at least 500 miles but given the pain in the foot, thought it might be a good idea to get some new ones now. Its the outside of my left foot that is sore, halfway between the toes and ankle and its the mid-point between the upper and lower parts of the foot, but slightly towards the underside if anything. My strong suspicion is it was due to me mentally favouring my left foot as described in my earlier post and it feels like I've bruised the area around the outermost bone of the foot. No champagne with our meal tomorrow night - but very likely we'll open a bottle of prosecco. Pruning (2nd wave) has been done - I've had to be a bit radical with it but I'm sure it will recover (eventually!).


  • Good morning all,

    Before I forget again - when Googling for info on GPS systems I came across an article written a couple of weeks ago on which GPS system you should use on Garmin “wearables” to obtain the best accuracy. The article was on a site called Navigation Professionell (with that spelling) and the bottom line was they recommend GPS+GLONASS (which is the default setting on my new 45s). Interestingly it seems that high tree density can affect the signal, also the shadow from your own body can be a factor too as the GPS antenna points sideways rather than skywards.  One final comment re Garmin and GPS - yesterday we went for a walk and at the point my Garmin registered one mile Steve’s only showed 0.85. I think the only conclusion you can safely make on the subject of GPS on Garmin devices is that it can only be used as a guide, rather than absolute fact.

    This morning I managed a rather rushed interval session, with a mini interval in the middle due to dog walkers hogging the path. Yesterday’s walk to collect blackberries looked at first as if it was doomed, as the farmer (or maybe the council) had cut the hedges, including the blackberry bushes, right back. However we persevered and found that there were still blackberries available, just not so easy to access. Fortunately Steve had made a sort of hook on a stick before setting out and this came in most useful for hooking around the stems and pulling the blackberries towards us. Blackberry pudding for tea. :)

    HS - This is getting spooky, not only do we have a variety of knee problems on this forum, but it seems we also have the top-of-the-left-foot pain as well. I get that from time to time, but I’ve never tried to analyse why it happens, I’ve just added it to my collection of foot aches and pains, but perhaps you are correct in thinking it is due to landing harder on that foot, I think I may do that too. 
    I hope the advice WtnMel gave you enabled you to email your virtual HR result to the NF race organisers, it’s frustrating when these technical issues stump us lesser mortals. ;)

    WtnMel - I hope Margaret has a lovely birthday, including your trip to Upton House. I bet your visit to Highgrove next week will be really interesting too. I still haven’t found time to watch that George Clarke series but I must make the effort as it sounds like something I would enjoy. Speaking of enjoyable things - it sounds like you had a much more enjoyable game of golf on Monday, I bet Alan was getting worried.
    Well done for getting that pruning done, why is it that there are always so many jobs to do in the garden when the weather has taken a turn for the worse? Every time we plan to do something the skies open, so it gets put it off for another day (a prime example would be the bulb planting and lawn mowing we’d intended doing today but the incessant rain has put paid to that).
    I’m going to have one final go at sorting out that extra junk email box. If it doesn’t work I might try contacting Microsoft for advice, or possibly Apple - it’s hard to tell if the problem is with Hotmail or my iPhone. 
  • HS, well done on your HM time. That’s really good on terrain that is a lot more challenging than mine. I did hear that this year’s NFHM was run on a tougher course than usual?

    Mel, I never trust a person who says they are not competitive! It’s usually a ploy. You’ve got some lovely excursions in your area.

    Aq, the blackberries might be a bit scarce now? The weather is very much on the turn even here on the balmy, or should that be barmy, south coast.

    Thus my customary mid week 10k was run in a fierce wind. 49.54 was a bit slower than of late but I think that given the conditions, it was better than some of my quicker efforts. It certainly felt hard and the Achilles isn’t happy.
  • JB - that was a great time, particularly in windy conditions. I hope the Achilles perks up. 
    The blackberries are getting a bit more scarce, but there are still enough to make it worthwhile collecting them. They do seem to be a bit on the small side this autumn (not enough rain earlier in the year?) and there are also quite a few that haven't fully ripened yet, so we'll leave it for another week or so before setting out again for what will probably be our last collection - providing the birds have left us any decent sized ones. 
  • Afternoon all,

    WtnMel, thanks for the advice!  The email says that jpg, jpeg, png and gif files would be acceptable. Does that mean that export original should be used? Does that move it onto the clip board, and then paste onto the email? The response from the organisers to my enquiry was to take a screen shot and send to them and they would do it for me. I've never done that before, but presume that I press the prtsc  key and that sends it to the clip board? 
    Sorry to be a pain, but I'm not as competent as I thought in these matters.

    I will reply to all the posts later, when my head stops spinning😓
  • Morning everyone,

    Aquarius - thanks for passing on the info re gps that you found. My Garmin was set to 'gps only' for 'run' and 'other' but I've changed them both to 'gps+glonass' (can always change it back if it seems worse). Re the accuracy of gps (or not!), I've proved to myself how inaccurate it can be - when my clubmates used to run up the road to do the last .05 of a mile I'd tell them they've probably already done the distance but they'd never listen. Glad to hear you were successful getting some blackberries and well done to Steve for his hook attachment. Hope you get that junk email problem sorted - but you may have problems identifying whether it's Microsoft or Apple that is causing it.

    JB - I just smile to myself when my friend Alan tells me he isn't competitive.

    HS - those file types (jpg,jpeg,png,gif) are all filetypes used for photos and pictures. So it sounds like all they need is a screenshot as they advised and you don't need to use the 'export original' or other command in Strava. All you need to do is bring up the run details on Strava then use the 'print screen' button to make a copy of what is displayed on screen (the 'print screen' or 'prt scr' button should be on the top row to the right of the 'F12' key). That will make a copy of the screen display on the clipboard. Then go to your email and do a reply to the organisers - type in whatever you want to say and leave the cursor at the place in your message where you want the copy of the screen display to be inserted. Then hold down the 'ctrl' and 'v' buttons at the same time and that will 'paste' the screen image from the clipboard into the email. Hope that helps!

    We were lucky with the weather yesterday for our visit to Upton House. There was very light rain as we walked around the gardens. We stopped for a coffee afterwards and it felt safe enough in the cafe - the house was open but we weren't brave enough to do that too. The rain only started heavily as we were driving home again. When we got back we had a meal with prosecco and later on we had a Zoom call with Margaret's son and his family, and some cake which M's sister had sent her.

    My foot pain has moved from just on the side to now, the top of the foot (well, side to mid-point anyway). I'm sitting here typing with an ice-pack on it at the moment as Margaret noticed my left foot was still a bit swollen this morning. Have taken some ibuprofen too.

    Off to the hairdressers now - my hair isn't exactly long but it has been 6 weeks since it was last done. 
  • WtnMel, many thanks for your help! I will go down the screen shot route which sounds more straightforward. 
    I will definitely reply to all the posts after lunch  :)
Sign In or Register to comment.